Barbershop 2: Back in Business

December 9, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 102 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

If this had been Barbershop, there never would have been a Barbershop 2.

Barbershop came out of nowhere, people weren’t expecting it to be a great success and thus expectations were low. When it went on to make tons of money, naturally there was a sequel to be made. Barbershop 2 had a lot to live up to, and it fell flat on it’s afro. Oh, there were some good laughs in the movie, but overall it felt very forced.

It’s obvious that there was a lot of this movie left on the cutting room floor, either that or the writing is just terrible. Let me give one of many possible examples. Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) has lots of flashbacks during the movie that “help” explain current events, one recurring theme is a past love of his. The problem here is that it doesn’t make one tiny bit of difference to the storyline whether he finds her or not. At the end you’re just kinda wondering… “what the hell was that about?”. I’m guessing the directors cut will give a little more insight here, but since it will undoubtably be longer, I’m not sure I can sit through it again just to find out.

Oh yeah, the story. Just about everyone is back for Episode 2, and they’re all cutting hair and jabbering a lot. But wait, there’s competition coming in across the street! What’s Calvin to do?! I know, let’s give the barbers some lame rules to follow, that will work!

Look, I really enjoyed the first movie and gave it 4 stars. It was funny as hell and very very well done. This time they just did it for the paycheck, and it shows. I don’t recommend it at all, just wait for the DVD.

Posted by John | Filed Under 2 Stars, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Comedy, Eve, Ice Cube, R, Sean Patrick Thomas, Theatrical